Samsung Requests Preliminary Injunction to Block iPhone4S Sales in Japan and Australia

Following similar motions in France and Italy, Samsung Electronics today, October 17, 2011, filed preliminary injunction motions in the Tokyo District Court, Japan and in the New South Wales Registry, Australia requesting the courts to immediately stop the sale of Apple’s iPhone4S in the respective countries.

In Japan, Samsung is also seeking an injunction order to immediately bar the sale of iPhone4 and iPad2. And in a separate filing today, Samsung has appealed the Australian court’s decision on October 13 to grant a preliminary injunction over the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The injunction request in Japan cites infringements on one High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) standard-related patent and three user interface patents, which seriously violate Samsung’s intellectual property.

Patent Claims in Japan:

1) One HSPA patent which relates to a method for deciding amount of power consumption during data transmission

2) Three user interface patents that are essential for displaying information on the screen, specifically UIs for the “in flight mode” indicator (airplane icon); for customizing a smartphone’s home screen; and for browsing applications categorized in a tree structure (in an apps store).

Samsung’s preliminary injunction request in Australia cites three patent infringements related to wireless telecommunications standards, specifically Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and HSPA.

Patent Claims in Australia:

1)  Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving packet data using pre-defined length indicator in a mobile communication system (WCDMA)

2)  Method and apparatus for data transmission in a mobile telecommunication system supporting enhanced uplink service (HSPA)

3)  Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data with high reliability in a mobile communication system supporting packet data transmission (HSPA)
In light of these violations, Samsung believes the sale of such Apple devices should be banned. Apple has continued to violate our patent rights and free ride on our technology. We will no longer stand idly by and will steadfastly protect our intellectual property.